Joseph Echteler

After tending to sheep and cattle up to age twelve, he learned the craft of stone masonry, carving, stuccowork and sculpting at a chiseler in Leutkirch im Allgäu.

From November 1872 he continued his artistic education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Max von Widnmann and Joseph Knabl.

His total work comprises about 200 busts, among these Emperor Wilhelm, Franz Joseph, Alexander II and the kings of Bavaria and Württemberg.

Echteler was awarded the honorary title professor by Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz for his artistic work.

The matter was resolved by Echteler changing his citizenship to that of the Principality, which made it legally possible for him to use the title professor.

The German obituary mentions that Echteler, who was a swimmer and a member of the Munich Jahn gymnastics club, “courageously saved young lives from the water” three times, even at the risk of his life.

[6] Since a head injury caused by a horse's hoof in 1889 (possibly frontal lobe damage ), Echteler's personality had changed: since then he was very irritable and sensitive to noise.